Few areas in orthopaedics have witnessed the type of exponential growth that has characterized the current field of arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Certainly a debt of gratitude is owed the early pioneers (both open and arthroscopic), whose pas- sion and skill fostered today's phenomenon. Rapid advances in imaging, electronic communication, instrumentation, and implant technology, have "suddenly" per- mitted arthroscopic access to problems once exclusively the province of the open surgeon. Pioneering work by Lanny Johnson, Dick Caspari, Harv Ellman (and oth- ers) further facilitated the application of these emerging technologies into a prac- tical and useful new skill set. Today, with few exceptions, most shoulders re- quiring surgical intervention can be thoroughly assessed, and in many cases, definitively treated arthroscopically. Yet, and perhaps a consequence of the rather rapid evolution of these tech- niques, few single-source references are available for either the "would be" shoul- der arthroscopist or the experienced clinician looking to hone his/her arthroscopic skills about the shoulder. The purpose of this text is to address this deficiency and provide the orthopaedic and arthroscopic community with a single definitive "how to" technical reference on operative shoulder arthroscopy. In keeping with this initiative, our goal was to assemble a group of authors who themselves were responsible for developing the techniques described, learning firsthand how "they do it. " We are indebted to these contributors for their time and effort, and be- lieve they have provided a wealth of valuable information that will enhance our technical understanding.
